In response to media enquiries on the arrangement of bilateral co-operation in industrial research and development (R&D) between Hong Kong and Israel, the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) spokesperson today (July 26) said:

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the Government of the State of Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on bilateral co-operation in industrial R&D in February 2014. The MOU provides a framework for the ITC and the Israel Innovation Authority (formerly known as the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Ministry of Economy of Israel) to jointly encourage entities in Hong Kong and Israel to pursue industrial R&D collaborations and technology development.

The two governments launched the Hong Kong-Israel Research and Development Cooperation Programme in December 2015 to promote industrial R&D collaborations between enterprises in Hong Kong and Israel. Both governments have been promoting the Programme to their enterprises. Enterprises are welcome to submit funding proposals for their collaborative R&D projects through the respective funding organisations in the two places. The Programme is open for applications all year round.

To foster collaboration opportunities between enterprises in Hong Kong and those in Israel, the ITC and the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation organised three "Israeli Business Matching" sessions over the past three years. These sessions successfully brought together 32 Israeli enterprises and 115 Hong Kong enterprises, assisting them to identify and select potential partners. To date, we have not received any application submitted through the Programme. We understand that the Israeli side has also not received any application so far.

We will continue to work with our Israeli counterparts for collaboration opportunities.